the signature of it is the following position for white that seems rather nice to me, all pieces very out and centered and defended, nothing supercomplex:
The Stonewall defense
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king castled, rook and bishop out, queen out, horse soon to come out. many cool variations and if the oponent castles kingside it often goes to sacrificing the white bishop and getting the queen and rook out to the right for a win.
one horse out, second horse soon to come out* nothing blocked, all is set for a game that starts on a good advantage for white. let the stonewall defense get the recognition it needs!
sincerely, a relative noob =)
This is Magnus Carlsens very words...
The great king of all openings, The STONEWALL ATTACK!!!
(Magnus Carlsen) This is my favorite opening of all time. I have studied this opening for almost a year now with people and the greatest chess software out there. It is a great opening and sadly isn’t as wide spread like it once was. No repertoires have been discovered so far to I guess you can say consider this opening bad when in fact world champions have played it before and some still do. Example game for Stonewall Attack:
1. d4 d5 2. e3 e6 3. Bd3 Nf6 4. F4 Bd6 5. Nf3 b6 6. O-O O-O 7. c3 c5 8. Ne5 Qc7 9. Nd2 Nc6 10. Rf3 Bb7 11. Rh3 cxd4 12. Bxh7+ Nxh7 13. Qh5 Rfe8 14. Qxh7+ Kf8 15. exd4 f6 16. Ng6+ Kf7 17. Rg3 Rg8 18. Nf3 Ne7 19. Nfh4 Nxg6 20. Nxg6 Ba6 21. Bd2 Qc4 22. Re1 Qxa2 23. Nh8+ Kf8 24. Qg6 Rxh8 25. Qxg7+ Ke8 26. Rxe6+ Kd8 27. Rxd6+ Kc8 28. Rc6+ Kd8 29. Qc7+ Ke8 30. Re6+ Kf8 31. Qg7#
The Stonewall attack is the king of chess openings. The most perfect system in chess and if played properly by any one, they are bound to win however, this would make chess seem cheap.
This opening is truly the king of the chess openings. It’s like a lion in chess. King of the beasts. King of the openings.
I used it for about two years and I won about 70% of games as white and only 55% of black. My very first blog was on this opening if you check it out. (Yeah I know it is terrible) https://www.chess.com/blog/SonOfThunder2/your-best-opening
i heard it called the stonewall attack and defense i guess attack makes more sense!! thanks im glad carlsen likes it. it seems to give you just such a nice start and people never play it!
Well, my rating went form 700 to 1000 playing this opening.
I got some coaching material and my rating has been steadily climbing to what it is now!
The DVD Dirty Tricks 2 by GM Nigel Davies recommends the Stonewall Attack for white. I recently started studying this, and it seems very promising. He recommends the move order 1.d4 ... 2.c3 for white against most of black's first moves.
may the stonewall attack live forever!
I don't like the Stonewall.
You get 1) a terrible bishop and 2) you have a hole, while your opponent doesn't.
While it's still playable, there are so many more exciting things that you can play both with white and black.
plutonia wrote:
I don't like the Stonewall.
You get 1) a terrible bishop and 2) you have a hole, while your opponent doesn't.
While it's still playable, there are so many more exciting things that you can play both with white and black.
The center is YOURS though.
whats wrong with this hole in the middle? even if your opponent lands a knight there its super manageable and you can get all other pieces out. the pawns in the middle are all protected by that terrible bishop so its not so terrible really it plays a role.
to everyone their style and opinion though. you seem to ne doing pretty well
AlNoss wrote:
the signature of it is the following position for white that seems rather nice to me, all pieces very out and centered and defended, nothing supercomplex:
The white King seems very isolated and I think there's a fair chance that it will be more vulnerable than black into the end game. I don't like so much that f2 pawn being on f4.
My first time playing the stonewall defense, FeelsStrongMan Thank you levy(GothamChess)
The Stonewall Attack... Like the Pillsbury attack.... is a very dangerous attack for white. I have it in my repertoire.
I'm not looking to play the latest or the greatest... nor do I poor over the latest "New in Chess" grafting the newest GM moves in the most modern main lines,,,
An old Book by I.A Horowitz and Fred Reinfeild called "How to Think Ahead in Chess" features the Stonewall Attack for White. it give some decent lines when Black evades the Stonewall Attack... **** When playing d pawn variants*** The Queen's Gambit is your best friend! Knowing when to bail on (in this case the Stonewall Attack) and transpose into a QG makes all the difference!
I took on the Stonewall Attack because I play The Colle Kolantowski... in main lines where Black plays and early pawn to b6... (with the idea of playing Bb7) White can play his knight to e5 and play for a Stonewall Attack. However... I also open the game with 1.d4 2. e3 looking to play a 3. Bd3 and the Stonewall Attack from the jump... if allowed. I will say IMO... the "Stonewall Attack proper" has some nice subtleties for both sides... making for a great game.
Andrew Soltis wrote a great Book on the Stonewall Attack... covers all the lines (including the old lines where Black plays a quasi Grunfeld and Fiancheto'ed kingside ) my only critique on his work... is his lines when Black doesn't allow you to play the Stonewall Attack. Horowitz & Reinfield's "How to Think Ahead in Chess" Chapter 5 "When Black evades the Stonewall attack" basically gives you the blueprint (I basically included it above) when to bail on the Stonewall Attack... which if you haven't noticed... is based on if Black shuts in his LSB.. then its OK... if not... Queens Gambit... Pretty much the same with the Colle.
Feb 18, 2025
0
#20
MrNossovitch wrote:
I came across this opening and it seems to not be very used (rarely anyone uses is against me) yet I use it everytime and it gives me alot of center control in the game. my win percentage as white is over 50% and as black I dont play as well and its thanks to this opening called the stonewall defense. comments as to why this is not good? I played it agaisnt a pc and it gives a positive score for white. here is an example of it. bonus is since people are not used to it they might not play as well as say with a Ruy Lopez. I am curious as to why this is not one of the big ones. anyone want to try it out and tell me what they think?
The Stonewall is sound, but not challenging.
That is because your pawns are all on the same color, which blocks your bishop. Additionally, it's not difficult for black to trade off your good bishop (the light squared one if you're playing as white). Positionally, it's very suspect. You gain good control over e5, but in return black gets his own nice square on e4.
In the game you posted, black made a ton of strange and very questionable moves, so of course the computer will say white is better.
I came across this opening and it seems to not be very used (rarely anyone uses is against me) yet I use it everytime and it gives me alot of center control in the game. my win percentage as white is over 50% and as black I dont play as well and its thanks to this opening called the stonewall defense. comments as to why this is not good? I played it agaisnt a pc and it gives a positive score for white. here is an example of it. bonus is since people are not used to it they might not play as well as say with a Ruy Lopez. I am curious as to why this is not one of the big ones. anyone want to try it out and tell me what they think?